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Documents

Overview

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development makes an ambitious commitment of leaving no one behind in its implementation. Meeting this commitment entails paying attention to the inclusion of vulnerable groups, including refugees, internally displaced persons and other forcibly displaced groups. These are among the most vulnerable people in the world and are often disproportionally exposed to the risks that many of the SDGs seek to address.  

With growing numbers of people on the move or displaced globally and recognizing their vulnerabilities, migration and refugee matters have become major issues in the international agenda. In September 2016, Heads of State and Government came together to discuss, at the global level within the UN General Assembly, issues related to migration and refugees. In adopting the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, UN Member States recognized the need for a comprehensive approach to human mobility and enhanced cooperation at the global level. In the same year and in response to the changing landscape of humanitarian action, the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) called for greater coherence and a New Way of Working (NWoW) among humanitarian, development, peacekeeping and peace building partners. 

In December 2018, the Global Compact for Refugees (GCR) was endorsed by the General Assembly, highlighting the importance of more comprehensive approaches to refugee crises, including both humanitarian and development engagement as well as more predictable and joined up action globally. Hence creating explicit linkages to the SDGs. The GCR therefore, presents UNHCR and UNDP with a guiding framework for greater collaboration. The objectives of the GCR are to step up support to host countries and communities, promote refugee self-reliance, expand access to third country solutions, and support conditions in areas of origin. At the 2019 Global Refugee Forum, UNDP made three commitments in support of the state-led implementation of the GCR, focusing on (i) rule of law and local governance, (ii) digital livelihoods, and (iii) conflict prevention and peacebuilding. 

At regional level, including in Tanzania, UNDP and UNHCR have been working closely on the DRC refugee situation. UNDP, UNHCR and IOM have also implemented a cross-border PBF project in Burundi and Tanzania until 2019. The proposed UNDP/UNHCR initiative in Tanzania builds on work carried out to-date and follows the UNDP Administrator’s and UNHCR High Commissioner’s commitment to ensure closer collaboration between the two agencies and reflects the eagerness of both agencies to put this initiative into action at the country level, addressing the humanitarian-development nexus as new ways of working are developed.  

Putting this in context, as of January 2020, Tanzania was host to 286,897 refugees, predominantly from Burundi (168,015 individuals) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (76,169 individuals) and 596 refugees from other nationalities. 56% of the refugees in Tanzania are children under the age of 18, who are particularly vulnerable. The vast majority (85%) of refugees stay in three refugee camps in the Kigoma region in northwestern Tanzania, Nyarugusu, Nduta and Mtendeli camps. While the latter two camps host predominantly Burundian refugees and were opened in response to the 2015 influx from Burundi, Nyarugusu camp has been open since the mid-1990s and hosts a large population of protracted Congolese, as well as Burundians. Since September 2017, almost 79,000 Burundian refugees have been assisted to return home under a tripartite arrangement, with support designed to ensure the voluntariness of decisions to return, and that return movements are safe, dignified and sustainable. At the same time, limited basic services and reports of human rights violations inside Burundi have caused several returnees to come back to Tanzania for protection, and led some to seek asylum in other neighboring countries.  

The joint Plan of Action outlines priority areas of collaboration between UNHCR and UNDP in Tanzania, building on the respective humanitarian and development expertise of each agency, and aiming to enhance operational effectiveness and optimization of resources to the benefit of refugees and host communities.